Atheists What is your reference of goodness?

Question

how can you say that something is right and/or something is wrong

also :Non atheists please answer too

Answer 1

1. don't do to others what you wouldn't like they do to you
2. your freedom ends when the others' starts
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Jesus M:
fortunately monkeys does not have religion to justify killing each other, including children (have your read Joshua? Exodus? Numbers?)

Answer 2

I'm probably going to tick off some atheists (I am considered one) but can't people answer the question instead of bringing up religious references and coming off as defensive? The question was 'Atheists What is your reference of goodness' and nothing more. I'm assuming you're putting on your boxing gloves because your expecting a few punches from the religious folks. Just answer the question from how you truly feel from a positive perspective so maybe someone can learn something from you.
Back to the question...lol Goodness for me is knowing what is truly right and good from what you do in life, from what you observe from others around you, learning and growing from life's experiences and letting these experiences affect you in a positive way no matter how good or bad they may be. Striving to be a better human being no matter what obstacles are thrown our way.

Answer 3

The same way you do.

By seeing the effects on the world and deciding whether an action helps people or not.

Some deluded people think that there is a god to hand out morality but fail to realise that even if such a thing existed and actually did provide us with morality some human somewhere has to decide that the morality that comes from god is worth using.

If God appeared to you with a set of moral laws how would you decide it was God and not some Devil that gave you the laws?

Answer 4

We all are born with a book full of white spells and black magic. A Christian looks at the spells and hears a voice saying, "Use the white spell please... OR YOU WILL BURN IN ETERNAL HELL!" Atheists look at the spells and say, "Well I COULD use the black ones, BUT... I think I will choose to use the white ones... because I am not a bad person."

Also religion is not the source of morals. Morals pre-exist religion by a long shot. There are many reasons for this:

-Tribalism
-Thought of reward or that being nice will benefit you (Christians know what I'm talking about)
-Laws
-The way you were raised

Etcetera, so on, and so forth.

Answer 5

well i would not kill another human being for the sake of a religion because I think it's wrong
i would not let a murderer go free because he's a christian I think all murderers must be punished equally...
I don't think that children born out of wedlock should be prejudiced against... we all owe our children the best possible chance at a future
I don't think that what I do in my bedroom is important enough for anyone to judge it his or her business... I am an adult and I beleive that all adults should have that same right and privacy

I think that women are equal to men... I think that people are equal no matter the color of their skin...

I think that violence is wrong..... that judging other is wrong... and all this comes from something I have called a conscience. Why are christians unable to develope one?

Answer 6

Humans got their "morality" the same way all social animals did. Evolution. If social animals didn't cooperate they wouldn't live long enough to pass on their genes.

* * *

Why Christians Must Steal From Secular Morality:
http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/submissions/steal_morality.htm
Christians must steal their moral rules from secular morality. They have no choice, as the Bible does not offer a moral system, it only offers a series of contradictory commands and a supposed threat of punishment in the "afterlife" for not following them - a punishment that is given equally to all violators - whatever the sin.

The Bible does nothing and can do nothing towards inculcating moral behavior on its own. Christians must steal from secular moral systems, and then merely graft their 'God threats' on top of this moral system. This is necessary. And the reason for this is simple: there is no morality in the Bible and there can be no morality in the Bible, because the Bible holds that 1) ALL 'sins' are equivalent (destroying any moral sense) AND 2) all moral behavior is immaterial, because works cannot save a person, AND finally all people are damned from birth.

In reality, Christians realize that some actions are more moral than others. They realize that moral actions exist in a hierarchy, and that rape is far worse than stealing a pencil. Yet the Bible holds that all 'sins' are equal, as all deserve the same punishment.

Christians also realize that humans can be moral agents... they expect moral behavior from others, and they view their own children as something to value. Yet the Bible holds that man is worthless, that he cannot be a moral agent, and that his sole salvation comes from grace. However, since Christians realize, implicitly, that all of these these points are obviously, prima facie false, they must steal from secular systems, that hold that 1) man obviously has a value 2) all 'sins' are obviously not equivalent and 3) a person cannot be held to be doing anything 'immoral' without intent.

* * *

Origin of the 10 commandments:
http://www.atheistalliance.org/outreach/news-2002_spring.php
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/ten_commandments.htm

Morality Without God:
http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/cohen.html

Morals Without Gods:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=sharris_26_3

Evolution of Altruism:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~strone01/altruism.html

If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701056.html?nav=rss_print/asection

The Subtle, Lethal Poison of Religion
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/09/hitchens_1.html

Answer 7

I don't need 2000+ year-old religious dogma to dictate these things to me, if that's what you mean.

Morality is not an objective thing. It changes from culture to culture, and from century to century. These days it's OK to have a clinical discussion about sex while at the dinner table or have a woman wear trousers, and it's not OK to put on a minstrel show. Yet 100 years ago it was the exact opposite.

My sense of ethics comes from 1) influence from the culture I was brought up in, 2) my biological, carnal drives for self-preservation and seeing those close to me protected, and to a greater extent 3) my experiences in life, what I learn through them, and how those things act as a filter for interpreting new experiences.

Answer 8

Don't hurt others. Be honest. Do not be cruel or destructive.

My (largely unconscious) references are:

Culture, science, rationality, parents, psychology, custom, folklore, religion, secular law, humanism, empathic response, reasoning faculty, socialization, political ideologies, philosophy, animal instinct. And probably many more.

You ask:

"how can you say that something is right and/or something is wrong"

OK, I see a religionist burning a woman or stoning a homosexual or killing someone. Or I see a government rounding up people and sticking badges on their arms...

I know it is wrong because people are employing force against others for the crime of being 'different'.

Anything non-consensual that causes suffering is wrong, I feel it in my bones. For instance, I am demonized by patriarchal religions for being gay, I *feel* that hurt, I get spat at in the park, I get anonymous threatening phone calls, yet still people spread religious dissent against me just because I love another woman and men do nothing for me (on the 'ahem' level, anyway!).

So I have empathy for others that suffer for the arrogance and tyranny forced upon them by others, whether they are wives, children, workers, slaves, or any innocent people who are 'different' or tyrannized.

Answer 9

of direction you're no longer with out any morals. (word: your morals are somewhat fallacious although...) yet i'm going to tell you that the morals which you do have are there as a results of fact God designed you, despite if or no longer you have faith in Him. Your worldview that asserts which you are the optimum authority does not make experience with the undeniable fact which you have faith in an absolute ethical code. think of roughly it, you already know that intercourse crimes are incorrect and immoral, and so does basically approximately all and sundry else on earth. yet why might all and sundry come to that comparable end, in the event that they have been the optimum authority? the undeniable fact that God initially created us all in His photograph, solutions that somewhat. He ingrained in our minds the undeniable fact that sin is erroneous. check out the Bible.

Answer 10

It's called ethical reasoning, based on a respect for the common nature of other human beings with rights, needs, and feelings equal to our own. The nice thing is that it works no matter which deity you believe in.

Answer 11

Despite the atheistic "Geezah" "philosophy" and all others similar, the fact is that Messr. Geezah & Co. (who all know English well, and therefore are most probably westerners) were influenced chiefly by Christians principles and morals because the judicial system of the west is based on the Ten Commandments, Christian principles & morals.

Two examples which immediately spring to mind are the Commandments "Thou shalt not kill" & "thou shalt not steal".

The 1 point of reality in his post was:
"My sense of ethics comes from 1) influence from the CULTURE I was brought up in" (my emphasis)

The honest answer to this post, as far as westerners are concerned, is: Christianity.

Thank you Geeezah. It was, yet again, a valiant attempt to proselytize your godless way of life as an alternative to eternal truths. It failed, and it is a "false alternative".

The above is my opinion --- I'll let the reader make up his mind. :)